PANDA PV Naming Conventions

The naming conventions for PANDA slow control process variables are outlined in this wiki. We recommend adopting these rules early on, to avoid confusion later and simplify integration of the various subsytems and LabVIEW/EPICS connectivity.

PV Basics

Process Variables (PV) are the values monitored and/or controlled via the slow controls system.

For PANDA Process Variables these basic rules should be followed:

• A PV name should contain maximum 63 characters, recommended maximum 40 (to comply with older EPICS standards)
• A PV name should not contain:
  • blanks or tabs (" "),
  • periods (".") (they are used as attribute delimiter)
  • special characters (Umlaute: "ü, Ø, ..." , Accents: "è, ...")
• Colon (":") should be used as logical delimiter
• The PV names are case sensitive
• The PV name must start with "PANDA:"

PV Name Template

In one line:
<Experiment specifier>:<Detector Sub System>:<optional Device specification>:<Signal Type>:<Segmentation coordinates>:<Channel number>:<Value/Task>

Example

For example one could have:

PANDA:FEMC:APD:HV:S1:M4:TR4:L8:C40:Imon

which would be the monitored value of channel 40 of the current of the High voltage of an APD of the EMC in sector 1, module 4, tray 4, layer 8.

The colon ":" separates hierarchy levels. In this example, the levels from left to right are:

1. Experiment specifier: PANDA
2. Detector subsystem specifier taken from http://nuclear.gla.ac.uk/DCS/interactiveTable.php?name=Subgroups
3. Optional subtype (e.g. APD)
4. Signal specification/type (HV, LV, Temperature, ADC ... )
5. Optional segmentation coordinates (e.g. Sector1, Module4, Layer3, x20, y55, z1, ... )
6. Optional Channel number
7. Value (e.g. Vmon, Imon, Iset, Iget, ... )

All acronyms should be capitalized: PANDA, EMC, HV, etc. The optional fields mean that a PV name has at minimum 4 levels (i.e. 3 colons ":").

Contact person

For further questions and suggestions please contact PeterZumbruch.